The serve is one of the most important aspects of the game of tennis. While a good serve requires proper body positioning and movement, proper toss of the ball is also critical to an effective serve. A serve must be consistent and thus consistency in each of the elements necessary to a proper serve is critical. A player must be able to repeat with consistency proper body positioning and movement, grip of the tennis racket, as well as the toss of the ball.
The toss of the ball must be to a proper height as well as to a proper position relative to the server. While the height and position of the ball toss will vary from server to server, it is critical that the player be able to properly position the ball overhead by the toss for an effective serve.
Devices have been developed to provide an overhead reference to assist in making the ball toss for the serve. Examples of these devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,798, issued May 17, 1977 to Alexander Pronin and U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,550, issued Feb. 27, 1979 to N. H. Denizman. While these devices provide some assistance in executing the serve, the devices are extremely complex in their construction and overly complicated in their usage. For example, the device illustrated in the patent to Pronin includes a complex and bulky overhead target for use in conjunction with a ground target which is aligned therebelow. In the patent to Denizman, the overhead target incorporates a signalling device and net structure and is used only in simulating the serve. Thus, a need exists for a device which is both simple in construction and design that assists a player in actually practicing the tennis serve.